With an appeal that goes beyond nostalgia, Age of Empires III Definitive Edition is both an excellent remaster and still a great game in its own right, and is up there alongside the Command & Conquer: Complete Collection as a masterclass in remastering a classic game.
The mechanical amusement element of the game has been beautifully and vividly recreated – it really does feel like the sort of thing one might find in a seaside pier arcade around 1910. You can see the mechanical rigging working on the characters and backdrops, and the characters and enemies are visibly made of tin, with holes and sparks appearing at they take damage.
Iron Harvest is refreshing enough to feel different, familiar enough to easily get into, and probably the best RTS I’ve played in several years. It does a lot of things really well, is engagingly different, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the developers take the game next.
an interesting assembly of two different concepts – almost two separate games – in one place.